Favorite Programs

[shsocu]

I started watching skating during the 08-09 season. I have watched mainly ice dance since then. I was wondering if some of you would share your favorite performances, from any of the disciplines, so I could receive my full FSU education.

[Macassar88]

Chen Lu 1996- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCRaoNfU0r8 My favorite program- period.

[shady82]

This is a very broad question. After much thought, here are some of my favorite programs:

Pre-CoP:
Michelle Kwan - East of Eden, Lyra Angelica.
Maria Butyrskaya - Scene d'Amour, Seventeen Moments of Spring.
Sasha Cohen - My Sweet and Tender Beast, Swan Lake (Wagner version).
Yukina Ota - Picasso's Dance.
Fumie Suguri - Ave Maria, Moonlight Sonata.
Alexei Yagudin - Revolutionary Etude.
Evgeny Plushenko - Nijinsky Tribute, Adagio.
Ryan Jahnke - Brazilian medley.
Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze - Concerto for Coloratura, Lady Caliph.
Shen/Zhao - Turandot, The Nutcracker.
Anissina/Peizerat - 2002 Spanish OD, Beethoven's Last Night.
Bourne/Kraatz - Adagio.
Fusar-Poli/Margaglio - Lord of the Dance.
Drobiazko/Vanagas - Quelque Cris.
Lobacheva/Averbukh - Time for Peace.
Chait/Sakhnovsky - Lord of the Rings.

CoP:
Sasha Cohen - Espana Cani.
Mao Asada - Nocturne in Eb, Ladies in Lavender.
Yukari Nakano - Memoirs of a Geisha.
Bebe Liang - Firedance, Black Earth/Oblivion.
Sarah Meier - Concerto de Aranjuez.
Daisuke Takahashi - Phantom of the Opera, Eye, La Strada.
Jeremy Abbott - 2010 programs.
Matt Savoie - Barber Adagio.
Jeffrey Buttle - Adios Nonino.
Shen/Zhao - Soong Sisters, Claire de Lune.
Totmianina/Mariinin - Ave Maria.
Savchenko/Szolkowy - Send off the Clowns, Out of Africa.
Pang/Tong - Pearl Fishers.
Delobel/Schoenfelder - Frida.
Denkova/Staviski - Seven Deadly Sins.
Davis/White - Phantom of the Opera.
Virtue/Moir - Mahler Symphony.
Belbin/Agosto - Chopin medley.
Pechalat/Bourzat - Clowns theme.

[shsocu]

Chen Lu 1996- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCRaoNfU0r8 My favorite program- period.

Thank you, that was gorgeous! Shady, thank you for your list! I'm looking them up now.

[falling_dance]

I'm afraid there's more, shsocu.

Great ladies' short programs that happen to number among my favorites (of which there seem to be dozens )

I know this is about favorite programs rather than favorite skaters, whose names appear in bold to make this overlong, self-indulgent post more navigable.

Midori Ito
9 to 5, 1987 Worlds
Caryn Kadavy
Two Guitars, 1988 Olympics
Kristi Yamaguchi
The Blue Danube, 1992 Olympics
Tonya Harding
Much Ado About Nothing, 1993 Skate America
Nancy Kerrigan
Paradise/The Master, 1992 Olympics
Yuka Sato
Railway Children, 1994 Worlds
Chen Lu
Spring Breeze, 1995-6 Champions Series Final
Michelle Kwan
Dream of Desdemona, 1996 Ultimate Four
Rachmaninoff Piano Trio. 2 and Piano Concerto No. 3, 1998 Ultimate Four
East of Eden, 2001 US Nats
Spartacus, 2005 US Nats
Tara Lipinski
Anastasia, 1998 Olympics
Irina Slutskaya
Serenade, 2002 Worlds
The Bolt, 2005 Euros
Sasha Cohen
Espana Cani, 2010 US Nats (Midori Ito, Susan Humphreys, Denis Ten, and Sasha Cohen: this Erich Kunzel recording is, like Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, hideously cursed. )
Yukina Ota
Picasso's Dance, 2004 Four Continents
Shizuka Arakawa
Fantaisie-Impromptu, 2006 Olympics
Miki Ando
Grande Polonaise Brillante, 2004 Worlds
Mozart's Requiem for a Pipecleaner, 2009-10 Grand Prix Final
Carolina Kostner
Canon in D, 2007 Worlds
Riders on the Storm, 2008 Worlds
Sarah Meier
One Note Samba, 2011 Euros
Mao Asada
Chopin Noctune No. 2, 2006 Skate America
Masquerade Waltz, 2010 Olympics
Kim Yu-Na
Tango de Roxanne, 2007 Worlds

Not among the greatest ever short programs (but I still love them)

Laetitia Hubert
In the Mood, 1992 Olympics
Marion Krijgsman
Power Cats, 1992 Euros
Susan Humphreys
Napoli Suite/Etude No. 9, 1997 Canadians (No YouTube video and lots of errors to boot, but still. She was such an elegant skater by this stage of her career.)

[Cherub721]

I will start you off with some ice dancing since you already like it, but this is the more dramatik side that hasn't really been en vogue since you started watching.

Anissina & Peizerat
1998 FD Romeo & Juliet
2002 OD Flamenco/Tango
1999 FD The Man in the Iron Mask
2000 FD Carmina Burana

Grishuk & Platov
1997 OD Libertango
1997 FD The Feeling Begins
1998 FD Memorial Requiem
1993 FD Blues

Denkova & Staviyski
2003 OD Dance of the Witches
2007 FD The Seven Deadly Sins
2002 FD Crashing Space Atoms
2004 FD Handel's Sarabande

Klimova & Ponomarenko
1992 FD Air
I mostly prefer their pro stuff...
1995 EX Romeo & Juliet
1993 EX Masquerade Waltz
1992 Tchakovksy Symphony #5
1996 Spartacus

[smarts1]

Lu Chen 1998 Olympics LP and 1995 Worlds. Best artist ever. No question. Her hand motions were divine.

[Macassar88]

Let me do a list (in no particular order)

Men:
Yagudin- 1999 SP, Gladiator FS, Winter SP, Nutrocker SP
Plushenko- 2002 FS (4t-3t-3lo Attempted, 3a-1/2lo-3f)
Joubert- 2006 Cup of Russia FS (three quads)
Goebel- 2002 Oly FS (Three quads, spread eagle to 3A, Hydroblading to 3Lo)
Takahaski- He may not have the quad 100%, but he has so much charisma!
His 2008 4cc performances are great

Ladies:
Chen Lu- 1996 SP and FS, 1998 SP and FS, 1994 SP and FS (I didn't like her 1995 programs)
Kwan- East of Eden, 1998 SP (the 2002 one isn't as good), Salome
Slutskaya- Totentanz SP, Wonderland FS, Bolt SP, Don Quixote FS, 2002 worlds SP
Butyrskaya- 1999 worlds FS (amazing)
Lucinda Ruh- One of the best spinners of all time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0fvU4wnp34
You can't really go wrong with Sasha Cohen (although she hasn't ever skated a perfect FS to my knowledge)
Biellmann- 1980 Olympic FS
Yukari Nakano- Cinderella FS, Capriccio Espagnol FS, Memoirs of a Geisha SP
Kostner- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42KMq_23P3Y (3f3t3lo)
2007 SP (great jumps)
Kim- Scheherazade FS, Tango de Roxanne SP
Mao- 2008 SP
Suguri- 2002 worlds
I'll think of some more. Pairs and Dance in another post

[Macassar88]

Also, I understand that you're relatively new to figure skating, so when you're watching videos, take all the commentary you hear with a grain of salt. There are a lot of biased commentators. (That's why I prefer to get Japanese commentary. I don't understand a word of it, so I don't argue with my computer)

[Macassar88]

I love A and P's lifts where Marina lifts Gwendal

[zippy]

Gordeeva and Grinkov
Reverie - if I had to explain to someone what's so great about skating using only one video, it'd probably be this one
Jazzy Piano for the footwork sequence and baby G/G cuteness
Barber of Seville - not sure why I love this one so much but it's kind of fun and campy and she's got inexplicably crazy hair
88 Olympics LP ah memories, the program that got me into skating

Kwan
Romanza - Dawn of an era
Others have said Salome of course but here's a link

Nakano
Bolero love the speed, hate the wrap. best donut spin everrr

Berezhnaya/Sikhaurilidze
Lady Caliph My cat's favorite. She has impeccable taste.

Kim
Danse Macabre

Lipinski
Little Women
Sense and Sensibility I remember watching this with a sense of elation and horror, lol - could hear her scream from my seat in the nosebleed section
1994 Olympic Fest but I have to say her earliest stuff is the most fun

Stiegler/Stiegler
More Olympic Fest fun

Stiegler/Zimmerman
96 Nationals SP

Delobel and Schoenfelder
Bonnie and Clyde very cool

Cohen
1999 Nationals, Junior SP - Not the very best of Sasha but who knew she had already skated to a mangled version of Rach 2 as a junior?
And of course Malaguena

These are just a few that immediately popped to mind that I didn't think the links had been posted yet. Definitely agree with many others that have been posted, especially Kim's Tango de Roxanne and Mao's Nocturne.

[Vash01]

Just a few off the top of my head:

B&S- Lady Caliph SP, Meadowland SP, Radetzky March SP, All the LPs (Dark Eyes, Concert for coloratura, Valse Sentimentale, City lights, Meditation), SP skated to Vanessa Mae's music when Hongkong became a part of China. Impossible dream, Let me fall

M&D- Liebestraum LP, Rachmaninoff2 LP, Don Quixote SP

G&G- Die Fledermaus, Moonlight Sonata, Vocalise, The man I love, Reverie, 94 Oly SP

T&M- Ave Maria SP, Snowstorm SP, 2006 Oly LP

Bechke & Petrov- Nutcracker LP, You don't bring me flowers, Snowstorm

Berezhnaya-Shliakov: Where have all the flowers gone (LP)

Stiegler-Zimmerman: Sorcerer's apprentice LP(?)

Babilonia-Gardner: 79 worlds LP

Kawaguchi -Smirnov: 2010 worlds LP

That's all I can think of right now. I purposely listed only pairs, so that in a separate post I can post ladies, men, ice dance

ETA:
Valova-Vasiliev's 1988 worlds LP
Shishkova-Naumov's 1992 Oly SP (Take five)
Gordeeva-Grinkov's 1988 Oly (how did I miss this?) and 1990 European LP (Romeo & Juliet)

[RumbleFish]

Here are a couple of my favorites.
2002 Olympics Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze SP - Lady Caliph: My all time favorite skating performance. She was so stunningly beautiful and he presented her well.
2002 Olympics Anissina & Peizerat OD - Flamenco: An iconic performance. They showed what ice dancing is all about.

It's so unfortunate that politics and dumb media ruined Olympic figure skating at Salt Lake City. There were some brilliant performances. SIGH

[Extranjera]

OG in Salt Lake City gave us one of the best ex programs IMO:
Yagudin's overcome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHxBvJgKLgA
Kwan's: Fields of gold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wazOhkRuySI

I love also:
Riverdance by Bourne & Kraatz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYJzuAk76Qo
Aranjuez by Kwan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfluAux0Sf0
Turandot by Shen & Zhao: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qqHEd0Bq9o
Matrix by Joubert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PXy-qmNnic

[mia joy]

OG in Salt Lake City gave us one of the best ex programs IMO:
Yagudin's overcome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHxBvJgKLgA
Kwan's: Fields of gold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wazOhkRuySI

I agree! Salt Lake gala was wonderful and these two are just exceptional! I also love this one:
Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze The Kid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib4FToUVQ6I

apart from that I recommend:
Michelle Kwan - 2000 ex Hands
Alexei Yagudin - 2001 LP Gladiator, 2002 SP Winter, 2002 LP Man in the Iron Mask
Drobiazko/Vanagas - 2000 FD Spente le Stelle, 2006 FD Phantom of the Opera, 2006 ex Pirates of the Caribbean
Delobel/Schoenfelder - 2006 FD Carnival in Venice, 2008 FD The Piano
Lobacheva/Averbukh - 2002 FD Time for Peace
Sinead Kerr/John Kerr - 2008 Scottish OD
Brian Joubert - 2006 CoR LP
Kristoffer Berntsson - 2008 SP Amelie (gorgeous choreography)

I could probably come up with a lot more, but for now that's it.

[blue_idealist]

Shawn Sawyer - Alice in Wonderland
Shawn Sawyer - Amadeus
Kurt Browning - Rag/Digon Times (pro program)

All the rest are really dance..

Bourne/Kraatz - Riverdance FD
Bourne/Kraatz - Jumpin' Jack/Hey Big Spender OD
Bourne/Kraatz - Michael Jackson medley FD
Bourne/Kraatz - Chicago OD
Belbin/Agosto - Elvis medley FD
Belbin/Agosto - West Side Story FD
Duschesnays - Missing I & II FDs
Duschesnays - West Side Story FD
Grishuk/Platov - The Feeling Begins FD
Grishuk/Platov - Memorial Requiem FD
Grishuk/Platov - Rock and Roll FD
Krylova/Ovsiannikov - Carmen FD
Anissina/Peizerat - Libertas FD
Anissina/Peizerat - Beethoven's Last Night FD
Denkova/Staviyski - Seven Deadly Sins FD
Denkova/Staviyski - Handel FD
Navarro/Bommentre - U2 FD

There's a lot more, I guess, but I'm tired and it's early.

[l'etoile]

Bourne/Kraatz - Riverdance FD
Bourne/Kraatz - Jumpin' Jack/Hey Big Spender OD
Bourne/Kraatz - Michael Jackson medley FD
Bourne/Kraatz - Chicago OD

Your dance program list almost matches my favorites! Bourne/Kraatz's Jumpin' Jack/Hey Big spender & MJ medley would be my thumbs-up for them! Of course when you're looking into ice dance category, you can't miss every Grishuk/Platov routines-especially from 96-97 till the olympic season, and Anissina/Peizerat's performances at the Olympics are on the top my list, too!
To add some,
Virtue/Moir - Vancouver olympic OD, Samba medley FD routine from the latest worlds.

For singles event, I'm thinking (trying not to repeat from others')
Michelle Kwan - The feeling begins at the worlds
Katarina witt - Carmen from the olympics
Brian Boitano - both programs at Calgary olympics SP & LP
Jeffrey Buttle - Ararat at the worlds 08
Yuna Kim - Lark Ascending at the worlds 07, Piano Concerto in F by G. Gershwin;olympic performance which is hand-down the most exquisite one from the olympic ladies field!


oh, I can't believe I left out this!
Yuna Kim's Olympic exhibition - Meditation from Thais. There's a quality of ethereal, essence of skating itself, just something that only she can do on the ice.

[giselle23]

Going back a little further...

Janet Lynn, 1972 Olympics--she received a 6.0, even with a fall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0HbR...DVXmoQ&index=6

Janet Lynn-1981 World Pro--her return to the ice after three children. Amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsb4T...VXmoQ&index=18

And in addition to some already mentioned:

Michelle Kwan, Black Swan/Dumky Trio, 2001 Worlds-her fourth World Title
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzHZtUPDIVE

Michelle Kwan-Tosca, 2004 Nationals--on fire!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWQSo...VXmoQ&index=48

Yu Na Kim--Homage to Korea, 2011 Worlds. Not perfect but my favorite of all of her programs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oubZs...VXmoQ&index=17

ETA: Midori Ito, 1989 NHK Trophy--the best triple axel, bar none (men or ladies). This is my favorite of her programs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hupx...VXmoQ&index=42

[Vash01]

Favorite ice dances:

Klimova-Ponomarenko 1992 FD (Bach), 1988 FD (Beatles) and 1988 Tango OD + Tango Ex, pro Romeo & Juliet, Tchaikovsky's 5th

Torville-Dean: 1984 Bolero, Take five (pro), 1994 OD (Rhumba?)

Wilson-McCall: 1988 Oly FD (Joplin)

Bestemianova-Bukin: 1988 Oly Ex (s)

Krylova-Ovssianikov: Masquerade waltz FD (97), 1998 OD, 1999 FD, Pro Ave Maria

Anissina-Peizerat: Carmina Burana FD (2000)

Usova -Zhulin: Four seasons (92?), Pro Mozart number, 93 worlds FD, 89 worlds FD (Mars)

Grishchuk-Platov:1995 OD (Fred & Ginger), 1997 FD (The feeling begins), 1998 FD (Memorial), pro 'You'll see' by Madonna

Navka-Kostomarov: 2006 FD & OD

Belbin-Agosto: Chopin FD

Anenko-Sretenski: 88 Oly Tango OD, Pro Thanksgiving, Pro Summertime, Pro waltz ('unforgettable' by Nat king Cole & Natalie Cole)

Virtue-Moir 2010 Oly FD (one of the best)

Davis & White: 2009 worlds FD, 2010 Oly OD, 2011 worlds FD

Denkova-Staviyski: 2006 worlds FD

Delobel-Schoenfelder: 2007(?) worlds FD- their championship winning program

Silverstein-Pekarek: Sentimental waltz (I forgot the year)

I am sure I missed several. May have to edit it later to add more.

[julieann]

This one for sure off the top of my head

Rudy Galindo 96 US Nationals